Yes amazing.

I was getting very irritated listening to Simon Mann and the Scottish one (Dougie Brown) commenting that Sri Lanka should effectively lay down and die as the match was over.

And all the while the last pair were scoring around eight and nine an over. I was utterly convinced that England would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and go down with yet another appalling last over whimper.

Mr. Mann was particularly idiotic just after the batsmen ran a dodgy three when he said: "there's no urgency out there."

Mr. Mann really does need to take his patriotic head out of his patriotic bottom and look dispassionately at the action from time to time. He has the makings of a good commentator, despite the lightness of his voice.
Shows promise. May succeed.

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Red-it, Red-it, Read it and wept

I can sympathise on that front. Some of the newer summarisers are good (though not Dougie Brown) and 2-3 of the Radio5 commentators are just hopeless.

Dougie Brown's problems as summariser were neatly encapsulated in a discussion of glovework: he had the loyalty to give an honourable mention for the glovework of his much overlooked team mate, Keith Piper... but then proceeded to heap so much praise on the glovework of everyone from Stewart through Jones to Prior, Ambrose and co that one would have thought they were all in Piper's class!Not convinced. To attentive to the "drama"... not sufficiently drilled in the Today-programme style grilling of his summariser... and seemingly incapable of just shutting up when he has nothing of interest to say!

Simon Mann is loads better than those frightful breathless football commentators that they recently drafted in for those two World Cups. One, whose name completely escapes me (Mark ???) just sounds like a sort of Steven Tompkinson - Drop-the-Dead-Donkey - type of reporter; running along with the "athletes" gasping for breath and not really knowing his deep backward square leg from his cow corner.

I know the BBC is desperate to get rid of public school types at all levels of broadcasting, but I have to say that employing "football men" in order to popularise the British minority sport of cricket is NOT the way to go.

I look forward (through my legs and in the reflection of a mirror) for the time when Mottie commentates on the Ashes.

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Red-it, Red-it, Read it and wept

Great win by England.


I caught the replay of the Sri Lankan innings this morning and thought they bowled well especially Sidebottom with the new ball.


The bad thing for the Sri Lankans is that their experience is up the top with Jayasuriya,Sangakkara and Jayawardene but after that they lack talent and experience with guys like Silva and Dilshan.

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Come on Aussies.

Another big cricket season in 2007/2008.

Ah the incomparably bland Mark Saggers. Though to be fair to him he did play a fair bit of minor counties cricket for Cambridgeshire so he's simply mind numbingly dull rather than clueless about cricket. It's left to Johnny Saunders to fill that particular remit and as an unfortunate optional extra he's blessed with probably the single most irritating voice in England .

What's Arlo White's background? He's nowhere near as bad as Saunders (who really is hopeless)... and sometimes I think he might make it - but then there are the other days...

Dilshan has played 128 ODIs! (Only Collingwood in the England side gets near that with 133)

Silva is less experienced but still has more ODI caps than SEVEN of the England side!

Both are quality players. England performed well to beat them.